20 November 2013

EIOPA/Bernardino: Building a credible and respected supervisory authority

Solvency II

I am proud that with regard to the Solvency II interim phase, we fully comply with the commitments that we made last year. In the course of 2013, EIOPA put out for public consultation four sets of preparatory Guidelines: system of governance, including risk management; forward looking assessment of the undertaking’s own risk (based on the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) principles); submission of information to National Competent Authorities (NCAs); and pre-application for internal models.

In the course of this consultation we received over 4000 comments and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders for their remarks and suggestions. By virtue of their participation we were able to refine the Guidelines’ content and achieve a better balanced approach to the preparatory phase. So the preparatory phase became possible thanks to our common efforts!

The objective of our Guidelines is to allow supervisors and companies alike to set up structures and get familiar with new requirements, a new system; to start the process of enhanced communication between supervisors and firms, and in general to use this interim period as a warm-up for the Solvency II implementation.

Pensions

All pension schemes throughout Europe should have sufficient resources in order to meet their promises. To achieve this it is fundamental to strengthen the EU regulatory framework on occupational and personal pensions in order to provide citizens with a high level of protection, trust and confidence in their pension regimes.

We welcome the decision of the European Commission to focus its proposal for the revised IORP Directive on the improvement of governance, reporting requirements and transparency of occupational pension funds. Over 2014 we are going to improve definitions and methodologies for assessing the holistic balance sheet in order to present to the European Commission with a number of further technical proposals for a European risk-based prudential regime that appropriately reflects the specific reality of pension funds.

EIOPA and supervisory convergence

So far I provided you with an overview of EIOPA’s achievements in the area of regulation. But let’s be honest: good regulation is just a first step. A much bigger and more difficult task is to implement all the regulatory requirements in a consistent way and to properly monitor the implementation process across the EU.

That is why EIOPA puts a strong emphasis on the promotion of supervisory convergence. In this context we have been using a number of tools: participation in the colleges of supervisors, conducting peer reviews, issuing opinions addressed to NCAs.

EIOPA’s experts are actively engaged in the meetings of colleges of supervisors. In October, we published EIOPA’s Action Plan 2014-2015 for colleges, which aims to develop consistent risk-based supervision according to Solvency II requirements and in particular, to reach a shared view on the assessment of the risk exposure of groups and solo entities. Colleges of supervisors will also discuss and review the progress and consistency of the application of EIOPA preparatory guidelines at both group and solo levels.

Full speech

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